


Nighttime Conversations

by Unsurpassed_Travesty



Category: Ranma 1/2
Genre: Conversation, Gen, Gender Identity, Gender Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 08:35:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15968678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unsurpassed_Travesty/pseuds/Unsurpassed_Travesty
Summary: A vignette. On the evening of their introduction, Ranma comes to Akane to ask for a favor.





	Nighttime Conversations

Akane lay in bed, glowering at the ceiling. It had been a long day. It had been a weird day. _Who does that jerk think he is? Barging into our lives, making fun of me! And now he's LIVING here! Stupid Ranma. Stupid Daddy._ She turned over, staring at the wall and trying to settle her thoughts enough to sleep. It wasn't happening: the room felt stifling even with the window open, her covers too heavy, and when she turned over again she saw that Ranma was standing in the room with her.

The last one made her sit bolt upright in bed, pulling her blankets around her. She was about to scream when the girl - he was a girl again, she noticed, still in the clothes he had worn earlier in the day - frantically made a 'shh!' gesture. "Akane, please," she hissed, "just don't scream. Please."

A glower was Akane's first response. "What are you doing in here, Ranma?" was her second. But then she looked at the girl in front of her and relented: something was different. This wasn't the infuriatingly cocksure girl from the evening, the one who made fun of her looks. This... this was the girl from the afternoon. Her posture seemed to shrink in on itself and her expression said that she was ready to bolt at any moment. Akane pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "What's going on?"

"I... I had a question to ask you. Well, I guess it's more like a favor." Ranma wouldn't look her in the eye.

"Then why'd you come in here? Couldn't it wait until the morning? I'm trying to sleep, Ranma." Residual grumpiness made her add, "Normal people try to sleep at this hour."

Ranma shook her head. "N-no, that wouldn't work. I don't want pops or your dad... or anyone, really... hearin' this."

The blanket fell a little as Akane relaxed her grip on it. "Okay, I suppose." She tilted her head. "So are you going to ask me so I can try to go to bed?"

If anything, Ranma seemed to shrink even further in on herself, hiding her face in her hands. She whispered something, much too low to be heard.

"I couldn't hear you, Ranma."

There was a pause. Ranma screwed her eyes shut. "C-could... could you teach me how to be a girl?"

Akane stared, and went on staring for about three minutes. Too long: Ranma turned away and made for the window. Akane reached out and grabbed her wrist, making the girl flinch. "Wait! I don't understand, Ranma: what do you want?"

Ranma pulled her hand free from Akane's grasp. "I don't know. It's just..." She took a deep breath and let it out. "I don't know. Ever since I got cursed I've been wonderin'. Because there's somethin' about this body that feels... right, I guess?" She paused, fidgeting. "And it felt nice when you said you wanted to be friends."

She wanted to yell at him. He was a jerk, he'd shown her up and then completely dismissed her! But here she was, standing in front of her with that same uncertain look she saw earlier in the day. "Why all the tough-guy act, then?"

"Have you MET my dad? If he knew that I was thinking about this he'd hit the roof. I don't even know what I'm asking for," Ranma said with a sigh, "but please, help me out. I feel like I want to be someone different. I grew up all over the countryside, helpin' dad steal from folks, learnin' how to fight. And it's a dumb life. I don't wanna do it anymore."

Akane blinked. "Are you saying you don't want to be a martial artist?"

"No. I mean, it's what I know, right? I just want to try bein' normal. And I don't know why but bein' a girl feels like it'd be normal to me. But I don't really know how, y'know?" She sighed again, laying back and sprawling on Akane's floor, staring at the ceiling. "Sorry. I know I'm not makin' a lot of sense here."

"You really aren't. But I guess I could try, even if I don't really know what you're asking for."

"I'm not sure I do either. But we could find out. Maybe we could start with shopping sometime? That's a thing girls do, right?"

Akane just rolled her eyes. "Sure, that works. But right now I'm going to give you lesson one, okay? Are you ready for it?"

Ranma blinked, but nodded.

"Lesson one is that girls let their friends get some sleep."

Ranma blushed, nodded again and climbed out the window. "Thanks, Akane. I'm glad you're my friend."

"Tell me that again when the sun's up." Akane watched her leave, then turned over in her bed. _That was... weird. But maybe he'll mellow out, at least._ With that she closed her eyes and, after a few more minutes thinking about the bundle of contradictions that was her new friend, finally fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> This one I feel like I SHOULD follow up on, but I don't know if I want to make a whole Thing about it. As it is it's just a moment of vulnerability from our favorite martial artist, and I think it may stand well enough as that. But I also like the idea of the two of them trying to figure out what 'being a girl' would mean for Ranma: neither of them is at all ready for what that entails but the journey could be worth a watch.


End file.
